Manchester, New Hampshire Man Sentenced to Prison for Elder Fraud Offense

Burlington, Vermont – The United States Attorney’s Office stated that on August 12, 2024, Nicholas Melanson, 42, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Christina Reiss to six months’ imprisonment to be followed by a 3-year term of supervised release. Melanson previously pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of a stolen check. Chief Judge Reiss also ordered Melanson to pay $1,500 in restitution to the victim of his offense.

According to court records, over the course of nine days in May 2022, Melanson traveled on five different occasions from New Hampshire, where he lived and worked, to the residence of an elderly woman in Windsor, Vermont. Each time Melanson traveled to her residence, he picked her up and drove her to one or more banks where she had accounts. Once at the banks, she made withdrawals and conducted other transactions, and Melanson obtained checks and/or cash from her. The attempted or completed financial transactions that Melanson facilitated or conducted for the elderly woman totaled at least $392,000, though many of the transactions were ultimately stopped or reversed. Melanson received $1,500 cash and a $3,000 “bonus” payment for his role in the victimization of the woman, and he hoped to be paid $10,000 a month to continue manipulating her financial activities. Even though Melanson had never met the woman previously and only interacted with her those five times, he quickly observed that she was confused, opined that she was “starting to have Alzheimer’s,” and believed she was not able to make informed decisions about large financial transactions without guidance and instruction from someone else. Melanson’s conduct only stopped when he was arrested by the Windsor, Vermont Police Department at one of the victim’s banks on May 19, 2022.

United States Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest commended the hard work and investigatory efforts of the United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Secret Service, and the Windsor, Vermont Police Department, and he further thanked the Windsor Police Department for its efforts on behalf of the victim in this matter.

Melanson was represented in this matter by Assistant Federal Public Defender Mary Nerino. Assistant United States Attorneys Nicole Cate and Michael Drescher handled the case for the government.

Since the bipartisan Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act (EAPPA) was signed into law, the Department of Justice has participated in hundreds of enforcement actions in criminal and civil cases that targeted or disproportionately affected seniors. The Department has likewise conducted hundreds of trainings and outreach sessions across the country since the passage of the Act. Please visit: http://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/.